Wedding Rhymes
by Happy2pester
Summary: Richard Castle and Kate Beckett are due to be married in two weeks time, when a murder turns up that really ticks Beckett off. Rated T for language.
1. Something Red

**A/N: This is my first fanfiction, so please be kinda, reviews are always appreciated. This is set a few years into the future, Kate and Castle are engaged to be married in two weeks time**

**Something Red**

"So Castle?" Esposito started, spinning round in his chair to face Castle. "Two weeks to W-Day. You worried."

"Me? Nah" Castle said waving Javier off. "Beckett, However.. AH! Apples, apples, apples!" He yelled, as Beckett dragged him out of her chair by his ear.

"Castle, I've told you before, about the chair, and about the sharing of details." Beckett said cheerfully, giving Castle a quick kiss on the cheek. Then spotting the coffee on her desk she smiled, picked it up and took a sip.

Castle sat down in his usual chair, before flipping a coin into the air and catching it

"So what's up for today then? No bodies?" He said, flipping the coin again, studying it as it span in the air. "Y'know, I bet I could get Ryan from here" he said, squinting with one eye, mentally gauging the distance.

Kate laughed gently and snatched the coin out of the air on the next toss.

"Castle, please remember that we're all wearing guns. Boys, remember that if you shoot my fiancé, then I'll shoot you."

She grinned and sat down, pulled out a pen, flipped open the first file on her desk and began to study it before replying. "Any-ways, Castle's the one that's been nervous. I swear that there isn't an hour going by that he isn't phoning someone and checking a detail or six." She gave him a quick smile as she made a note in the file, her engagement ring gleaming softly on her finger

"Love you too" Castle said, smiling at Beckett, just as her phone started ringing. "Your phone is ringing" he commented idly, fishing in his pocket for another coin.

"Beckett" she said, into her phone, shooting castle a glare. She listened a moment, a frown on her face. Putting her hand over the microphone for a moment, she said to Castle. "It's Christie, from the dress shop"

Removing her hand, she continued "Christie, slow down. What's wrong? Wait, What did you say? My dress? What's wrong with my dress? Blood? Okay, I'll be there right now, don't touch anything, okay?"

Pocketing her phone, and going for her jacket, she started talking. "That was Christie, she's doing my wedding dress, and"

"We get it" Esposito interrupted. "We were listening. Where am I telling Lanie to meet us?"

Beckett turned to look at them, and saw that her team were already standing, jackets on. In Ryan's case, he was checking his gun, Esposito was on the phone. She quickly reeled off the dress, headed for the elevator.

Castle jumped and ran to catch up with her. "You okay Kate?" he asked carefully

"Whoever screwed with my wedding dress is going to pay, big time" She said as she reached the elevator, and pressed the button for the lobby, Ryan and Esposito just ducking inside as the doors closed behind them.

A short time later, after a moderately harrowing drive for the other people in her car, they pulled up at the little shop, a quiet place, off the beaten track. Before the car's engine had fully stopped Kate was out the door and into the shop.

Castle, Esposito and Ryan were in a second later, to watch Beckett being dragged through the back of the shop by a plump woman wearing pink.

Esposito paused a second to look at one of the dresses. More specifically the price tag. "Ouch, I really hope Lanie doesn't like this dress."

"Boys!" Kate's voice came from the back of the shop. "Find the apartment upstairs. Castle, back here now!"

Castle stepped to the back of the shop to see a near-hysterical Christie, and an upset looking Kate fussing over what Castle guessed to be Kate's dress. It was on a mannequin, simple, yet elegant. Ruffles: Some, not too many. Lacy bits: A few, on the edges. Train: Nope. Colour: Previously, white. Now: Blood Red.

The blood itself had apparently soaked through from the apartment above, and had evidently been dripping down, precisely onto Kate's dress.

"It's ruined" Kate said softly, to herself, reaching out to touch the dress.

Castle stepped up and hugged her gently from behind

"Don't worry Kate. I'll fix it, somehow" he said softly, as she leaned back into the hug.

Just then her phone rang. She picked it up, answering with her traditional "Beckett." She listened for a few moments, before nodding, and hanging up. She collected herself, then turned in Castle's arms and kissed him.

"Boys found the body. Upstairs." She said, before shaking her head slightly, and put on what Castle recognised as her 'game face'.

"All right Castle. Let's go catch this guy" She said. As they walked outside, Lanie in the Morgue-mobile rolled up.

Climbing out, Lanie took a peer in the window of the dress shop, "Damn girl, how did you find this place, I gotta get Javier to bring me here when we go shopping for my dress" she said grinning, placing her hand on Kate's arm, her own engagement ring on her finger. "So girl, What's the damage?" She said

"Soaked in blood. Absolutely ruined" Kate replied as she led Castle and Lanie up to the apartment. Esposito was holding the door. "Door was unlocked when when we got here" he commented and gave Lanie a kiss on her way in. "We opened it, and spotted the victim"

The body of a young blonde woman was lying posed on the carpet. Her bright blue eyes were open, and she was dressed in a pair of ratty old blue jeans and a paint-covered green hooded jumper. She was lying on her back, legs together, head resting on a cushion that matched those on the couch. Her arms were folded across her stomach. She looked peaceful, apart from the fact that one of her hands had been brutally hacked from her arm.

Lanie knelt down next to the body, and began to carefully examine it, and began to talk, partly talking to herself, partly talking to Kate.

"Poor girl. Would have been gorgeous." She commented as she examined the girl's stump "Bled out from that." She took a couple of quick pictures of the body, and patted the body down. "No wallet or purse" she said, and began a more detailed examination of the woman's body.

As Lanie examined the body, Kate motioned to Ryan and Esposito. "Okay boys, me and castle will search the flat, you two canvass the neighbours and see if you can't stir up any trouble.

Lanie began to talk again "Based on body temperature and lividity, I'd guess that this poor woman died maybe between 4 and 6 this morning. Ligature marks indicating that she was tied down while she had surgery preformed upon her by someone. It appears there was a head wound as well, hit with something to knock her out" she said

As Lanie continued her examination of the body, Castle began to search the room they were in. It wasn't long before he found, under a couch, a breadknife, that was covered in blood. "Ah-ha! Beckett! I've got the murder weapon!" he said grinning with accomplishment, when Lanie gave a soft moan of sadness

"Oh you poor dear!" She commented, as she examined the stump of the arm closer "Kate, I can't be sure until I get her back to the lab, but I think that her hand was cut off before she died. "

"Ouch" Castle commented softly as he continued to search the room for anything.

Kate, who had been searching the kitchen, shook her head softly. "Okay. Definitely going to make this perp pay" she commented as she spotted a jacket hanging on the back of the apartment's door. Going over to it, she searched through the pockets and turned up a purse.

"Alright, Victim is one Julia Clarkson, aged 27." Continuing to search the purse, she pulled out a photo, looked at it, and stuffed purse and photo back into the jacket pocket, before opening the previously closed door to Julia's bedroom. "Oh fuck" she said softly, "Lanie" She said, indicating the room. Lanie got up and joined her, "Oh you poor thing" Lanie said, looking at something in the room, that Castle couldn't see.

He went over to the door, in time to see Kate and Lanie standing at a cradle, looking down into it, and a wailing noise start up from it.


	2. Something New

**A/N: So because I finished the previous chapter before I signed up for and didn't know about the two day wait before you could post anything, I started the second chapter, and this is ready, have the second chapter. Read and Review please :)**

**Something New**

Castle watched Detective Beckett melt from his fiancé's face, to be replaced by Kate Beckett. He looked on as Kate leaned gently into the crib, and picked up the crying baby.

Kate cradled the child gently, as Lanie quickly checked him over.

"Young boy, no more than a couple of weeks old" She commented seriously. "Probably hungry. Too young to be on anything other than breast milk" she said, only professionalism in her voice.

Kate looked at Castle with a look of distress that spoke a thousand words to him. In her look he saw echoes of a young Beckett with no mother, and her distress that this child that she held in her arms would have to go through the same thing. He saw those echoes of a woman that had laughed and talked with him, telling him that she wanted children some day. He saw in those eyes the pain of a girl with no mother to help her finish growing up, and the strength of a woman who was one of the 12th precinct's best detectives.

"There's stuff available for if a mother is unable to breastfeed" Castle commented, "But off the top of my head I wouldn't know where to find some. I have an idea. Hold on Kate."

Castle ran out of the room, and up the hall. He spotted Kevin Ryan just saying thank-you to one of the neighbours, jotting something down in his notebook.

"Lady in 4b said she heard an argument a few days ago" he started, but then caught the look on Castle's face.

"Castle, everything okay? Wait, what's that sound?" he said, his eyebrows furrowing, as he tried to look past Castle and around the corner into the apartment.

"Kevin, sorry if this is a bit personal, but it's an emergency. Jenny, she's still breast-feeding your son, Matthew, isn't she?" Castle said

"Yeah, we're starting to wean him off bu-"

"Call her and get her to meet us here, it's an emergency" Castle interrupted.

Coming down the hall, Esposito looked at him "Castle, is everything okay?" he asked

"The vic had a baby boy" he said, before heading back into the apartment. Kevin already on the phone to his wife, followed Castle in, just behind him came Esposito.

They looked on as Beckett gently rocked the fussy child. The look on her face told them everything they needed to know.

"Mother Bear" Esposito commented.

"Hell yes." Ryan commented. "I'm going to wait for Jenny outside."

"Join you bro?" Esposito enquired.

"Welcome"

Castle smiled at Beckett. "I'm going to get Martha to come round with blankets, and a car seat. Once we get the kid back to the precinct, then we can figure out where to go from there." he said softly, walking forward to her.

Lanie nodded. "You look after the baby, Girl. I'm going to finish up with his Mama, and get her on back to the morgue."

Kate nodded softly, as she rocked the child gently.

Castle phoned his mother, and rapidly explained the situation, and what they needed. "Martha is on the way" he said hanging up, just as Esposito came up the stairs.

"That's Jenny just pulling up. Christie downstairs said there's an employee room in the shop that you can use. Castle, you go with her, me and Lanie can finish up here"

Kate gave him a quick smile, and then turned her attention back to the baby boy in her arms, as she headed downstairs, followed quickly by Castle.

Javier grinned, and kissed Lanie gently on the cheek. "I bet this is gonna be fun" Javier commented, grinning at Lanie

Lanie gave him a pointed look, and said "I want one of my own some day" before smiling and then returning to the routine work of prepping the body for return to the morgue.

After listening to a short lecture from Jenny on what the baby would need for the next few hours (Nappies, formula, warmth, quiet), Martha joined the group in the dress shop with the necessary essentials for transporting a baby safely. Richard nodded, memorising the list carefully, before flagging down a taxi

Castle smiled to himself as the 12th precinct elevator doors opened up, revealing the bullpen, where he'd spent the greatest portion of the last six years of his life. And enjoyed most of it. There were a few rocky spots now and then, but mostly good.

He grinned fondly to himself, remembering the Christmas party two years ago, where he'd finally asked Kate to dinner and a movie with him. Then a few days later he'd had a lecture in explicit detail from Lanie, Ryan and Esposito on exactly how they were going to dispose of his body so that it would never be found, should he hurt Beckett (He'd taken notes, and used it in a book). There had been a couple of fights, times when he'd screwed up, forgotten something, or been incredibly irritating for no apparent reason. But he was, two weeks away from marrying the most fantastic woman he'd ever met.

Looking around, he spotted Ryan and Esposito at their desks, apparently running leads down. Esposito, spotting that castle had come in, put his hand over the mouthpiece of the phone he was on and mouthed 'Break Room' at Castle.

Castle smiled, nodded, and hauled the shopping into the 12th precinct's break-room, to see Beckett holding the baby boy, Martha standing just behind him, and every single one of the 12th's female officers fussing over the child.

A few moments behind him, Captain Montgomery entered the room. "All-right ladies, back to work okay? Good to see you Martha" he said nodding

A little bit of good natured grumbling later, and Castle, Beckett, and Martha had the room to themselves.

"So, what's going to happen to this poor child?" Martha enquired

"Well" Kate started "We're going to have to call social services. Ryan and Esposito are working on tracking down any family, but for now" Kate smiled and looked down at the baby.

"Well Kiddos, I'll leave you two alone for now. See you this evening?" Not waiting for an answer, Martha practically waltzed out of the room, practising in her mind the steps in a dance for an up-coming play

Castle laughed gently at his mothers antics, and Kate smiled and put the sleeping baby down in a basket that was lined with fluffy blankets.

Kate walked over and kissed Castle softly.

"He's a beautiful child Rick, but as far as we can tell, he doesn't have a name yet" she said softly.

"Well, we'll keep looking. We can go back and give her apartment another going over soon, and see if we can't find out his name. " Castle said, wrapping his arms around Kate as they looked at the young boy.

"Oh, did you get the things?" Kate asked castle, smiling

"Of course I did!" Castle said grinning, and began rummaging through the shopping bag he had with him, and pulling things out, naming them as he went. "Nappies. Formula milk. I got a couple of baby jumpsuit things as well."

Kate nodded at each item. "Well done Castle. I guess you're not totally incompetent" she said grinning at him, but then immediately got suspicious when she spotted the grin that was plastered all over his face

"I also kinda... got this" Castle said, dipping his hand into the bag one more time. This time, he pulled out a moderately fluffy, light brown teddy bear, that was almost bigger than the baby in the basket. "It's fluffy!" he announced with the most childish grin Kate had seen on his face in a long time, "And look how cute it is" he said grinning, holding it up in front of Kate

"I love you" she said grinning and took the bear from him, and gently tucked the bear into the basket next to the baby.


	3. Something Borrowed

**AN: Oops. I didn't mean for this chapter to get this long. 2230 words. Anyways, plenty of cute caskett fluff. I don't own anything**

**Something Borrowed**

Captain Montgomery poked his head into the break-room

"Castle, Beckett, we have a little bit of a problem. I just got off the phone with child services. They say they can't come and get the kid today," he shook his head. "The earliest they can spare a social worker is tomorrow afternoon."

"Well, what are we supposed to do then?" Kate asked, "The precinct is no place for a baby this young!"

"I'll take him home with me" Castle offered suddenly "I've really got to get working on my next book, and I do know how to look after a kid. That is, if you're okay with the baby staying with us tonight, Kate"

Kate thought about it for a few moments, and then nodded. "Okay. You can handle a baby for 24 hours, can't you Castle?"

"Yep! And Alexis and Mother will be happy to help" Castle said grinning. "C'mon John" Castle said picking up the basket with the baby in it.

"John?" Kate and Captain Montgomery both enquired at the same time

"Yeah. We don't know his name, so 'Jonathan Doe Clarkson'

Kate laughed, grinning, and Montgomery shrugged, and commented "It'll do for now"

Castle grinned, and said "See you when you get home Kate. Don't forget to eat" he said smiling, and gave her a quick kiss on the way out.

"Castle! PDA!" she reminded him, hitting him gently. Castle laughed and headed for the elevator, carrying Jonathan.

…**...**

Kate walked out into the bullpen and examined the murder-board.

"So, where are we at?" she asked, and all of a sudden, Esposito and Ryan appeared either side of her.

"Julia Clarkson, aged 27. Her building's super wasn't in whilst we were there, so one of the blues hung around, and sent him our way. He should be here in 10 or 15 minutes" Esposito said, consulting his notebook.

"Neighbour said that she was a nice enough young woman, usually polite and considerate, but pretty much kept to herself. But last Thursday, several of her neighbours heard a loud argument coming from her apartment." Ryan continued on from Esposito "It was definitely a male voice, but I've got nothing on the actual content of the argument, or on the identity of the person Julia was having the argument with."

Kate nodded. "Okay. I'll interview the super when he gets here. You try and find anything you can on Julia. Try and get where she might have had the kid etc. I'm going to speak to Lanie."

Ryan and Esposito nodded and headed back to their desks as Kate walked into the elevator, and hit the button for the morgue.

…**...**

Castle grinned to himself as he walked into the loft, where he lived with Kate. He looked around, and spotted Alexis sitting studying. Well into her second year of college, she was home for the summer, and to help with the wedding. "Hey there chief bridesmaid," Castle said grinning. "Hi Dad" Alexis said, not looking up from the book she was reading.

"Alexis," Castle said, walking up to the table, and placing the basket on it, "Meet Jonathan. He'll be staying with us for the night."

Alexis looked up from her books. First she saw the basket. Then there was the baby. She looked up at Castle, her confusion evident on her face.

Castle grinned as his daughter said, "So where did you steal him from then?"

Castle sighed and sat down. "His mother was murdered earlier this morning. We found him and took him back to the station, and it turns out that social services can't come and get him until tomorrow. Kate already loves the kid so we're going to look after him until tomorrow afternoon."

"Dad, you're such a softie," Alexis said grinning. "Can I hold him?"

Castle nodded, and watched on smiling as Alexis reached into the basket and carefully picked up the baby. Castle snapped a picture with his phone, and sent it off to Kate, just as Alexis took a sniff and said, "I think little Jonathan here needs to be changed."

"Ah." was all Castle had to say to that.

…**...**

Kate grinned as she looked at the picture on her phone, and then nodded to the man who had been escorted up by a police from the apartment building.

"I'm Detective Beckett," she started, offering her hand out to the man. "I'm glad you could spare the time to come down here and speak to us Mr...?"

"Kapowski" the man offered in a Russian accent, shaking Beckett's hand. "Sorry we had to meet under such circumstances. Officer Kinley informed me that Julia had been murdered? How can I help?"

Beckett nodded and started to speak "Lets start with how well you know Miss Clarkson."

"Ah," Kapowski interrupted, one finger raised. "Mrs Clarkson. Her husband died in a car crash about 6 months ago. Apart from that, I knew her reasonably well. She lived in the building for two years. Nice enough lady. Stopped to say hello once in a while. Exchange cards on Christmas and birthdays. Struggling a bit with money recently though. She's two months behind on rent, but I was letting her off because she's such a nice lady, and with the kid and all. Helped her out on occasion as well – picking her up some groceries and such since the baby came around," he shrugged. Then thought for a moment, "Is the kid okay?" he asked

Beckett nodded, smiling as she took a few notes down. "Staying with my family tonight, and going to social services in the morning. Now, the neighbours informed me that last Thursday Mrs Clarkson was involved in an argument, and that it got rather loud. Don't suppose you would know anything about that?"

"Not about the argument specifically, but I do know that she was having trouble with an old boyfriend that wouldn't let go. Don't know his name." Kapowski shrugged.

Beckett filed that information away. "Just a couple more questions. Do you know how we can contact her parents, and do you know of any of her friends, or where she worked?"

"Parents are dead I think, and I got the impression that Julia, while not pleased exactly, was glad that they weren't around anymore. I gathered that they didn't approve of some of her life-choices. For work she was at the diner down the street from the apartment building – Flo's Pie Place."

Beckett nodded and shook Kapowski's hand. "Well, thank you for taking the time to speak to us" she said, handing Kapowski her card, "If you think of anything else, please don't hesitate to call me"

"I won't," Kapowski replied, pocketing the card, and heading out.

…**...**

"Baby Poop" Castle commented. "I'd forgotten that detail," he said as he placed a wriggling Jonathan in the basket, and tucked the teddy bear in next to him. "You mind keeping an eye on him for a little while Alexis? I'm going to go dig a your old cot out of the basement."

"You kept that!" Alexis started.

Castle laughed gently. "Always did want another one of you someday," he said sticking his tongue out at her as he left the room.

Alexis raised her eyebrow at Jonathan, and moved her textbooks so that she could sit in front of the baby, as he gurgled, burbled, and finally yawned, heading off to the land of dreams once more.

…**...**

Kate, Ryan and Esposito walked into the diner that Mr Kapowski had directed them to and had a look around. It seemed to be nice enough. Shortly enough, a young red-headed woman walked up and said, "Hi there, welcome to Flo's Pie Place. What can I get for you?"

Kate held out her badge, "A slice of the blueberry, and a talk with your manager please."

The waitress looked at the badge, went up to the doors to the kitchen and yelled something into the back.

"Flo will be out in just a moment – she's pulling some pies out of the oven. In the meantime, blueberry for you, Miss, and for you boys? And can I get you anything to drink?"

"Cherry Pie," Ryan and Esposito both replied at exactly the same time. "Coffee, black, no sugar please" Kate added. The waitress disappeared behind the counter, and momentarily came back with three slices of pie. She set one down in-front of each Detective, and said smiling, "Your coffee will be here in a moment Ma'am."

Kate, Ryan and Esposito settled down onto one of the tables, and began to eat.

"This is good," Esposito commented. "Yeah, it is, isn't it?" Ryan commented back, just in time for a tall brunette wearing her hair in a ponytail to come through the door. She looked to be in her late 40s. Walking out of the kitchens, with a subtle indication from their waitress, she headed over to Ryan, Esposito and Beckett's table.

After a short round of introductions, Beckett decided that she kind of liked this woman and her pies, and that she would have to get castle to buy her more. But then she put pies to the back of her mind and brought the murder forth.

"Mrs Jenkins, I was told that a Mrs Julia Clarkson worked here?"

"Call me Flo, dear," the owner of the diner said, "And yes she does. But she didn't show up for work today, or call in sick. Is she okay? Is she in any sort of trouble?"

"Well I'm sorry to say that in the early hours of this morning, Mrs Clarkson was murdered."

"Oh that's tragic! Do you have any idea who did it? Is her child alright?" Flo said.

"Not yet, but we are investigating. And yes, her boy is fine." Kate nodded. "Staying with my family for the night, and going to social services tomorrow. Now, We heard her neighbours saying that she was involved in an argument last Thursday. Did she happen to mention it to you?" 

"No, not to me. I liked the girl well enough. She was a good employee, but I wouldn't call her a friend. However, Emma was friendly with her." She turned in her seat and called over to the waitress that had served the detectives, "Emma! Can you come over here please?"

Emma nodded, and came over, before placing a mug of coffee in-front of Beckett.

"Your coffee Miss. How can I help you?"

Taking a sip of the coffee, Beckett nodded in appreciation, before speaking up, "Julia Clarkson. Flo here says that you were a friend of her?"

"Yes, Ma'am. That's right. Is she okay?"

"Unfortunately not," Kate said, quickly filling in the barest of details on the murder for the girl, and repeating her question about the argument.

"No, I don't think so... Wait. She said that her old boyfriend had been trying to work his way back into her life. She wasn't having any of it though. Apparently he cheated on her years back. Trevor, I think his name was. Trevor Kent."

Kate nodded. "Okay. Well, there's nothing else just now. Mrs Jenkins... Flo. If you don't mind, Detectives Ryan and Esposito would like to ask each of your staff a few questions. They won't get in the way much. Also, were there any regulars Mrs Clarkson was friendly with?"

Emma nodded, "Yes, this one old man, but he's not in yet today."

Beckett acknowledged that. "Thank you for your time, and the pie, Mrs Jenkins, Miss Emma. I'm going to return to the precinct now. Boys, you stay here and start your interviews. Yes, you can finish your pie first," she replied to the unspoken question in their eyes.

…**...**

Hours later, just after it got dark, Kate unlocked the door to the loft and walked in, to see Alexis, Martha and Castle on the couch, looking through something that she couldn't see from where she was.

When she closed the door, Castle looked up.

"Hey Honey, how was your day?" he said, vaulting over the back of the couch, to come up and give her a kiss.

"It was okay. We made a little progress on the case. The bread-knife you found? Definitely the murder weapon. We found prints but nothing in the system. We got the name of the victim's ex, but haven't tracked him down yet. We did manage to turn up a birth certificate though. Jonathan James Clarkson. How is he by the way?"

"Oh good, not too far off with the naming then" Castle said grinning, pleased with his own awesome abilities to predict things. "And John is fine. Fed him just before you arrived. Alexis, Mother and I were just looking through some of Alexis's old baby photos."

Kate smiled, and kissed Castle on the cheek "Excellent. Just what I need to unwind. What's for dinner?"

**Read, Review, but most importantly, Enjoy! :)**


	4. Something Borrowed, Part 2

**Thank you all for your comments, your follows, your favourites. I hope you enjoy this chapter :) Lots of cute fluff. **

**Especially thank you miss ramsaybaggins, for helping me out when I was stuck with the conversation in this chapter**

**Something Borrowed, part 2**

Castle yawned.

_Wait. Why am I yawning? I was asleep a moment ago._

Castle looked around, all of a sudden, very confused. He didn't remember getting up. He most certainly didn't notice walking downstairs and into the kitchen. But he did proceed to notice a fussy, although not yet crying Jonathan in his arms, and the fact that castle was standing in front of the tub of formula powder.

"Ah, I get it. Just give me John, okay?" Castle put Jonathan down in the basket that had been left down here when they went to bed, and began to prepare the formula milk for him. Castle had got it mixed in the bottle, and was just starting to warm it up, when Jonathan broke down into full blown crying spell

"Shh, please John!" Castle whispered, "It's only..." he looked around and winced. "It's three in the morning, please be quiet!" he prayed his hardest that Kate wouldn't wake up and that the formula milk would heat up now.

Castle winced again as a very sleepy looking Kate appeared at the top of the stairs.

"Castle?" she said yawning "What's happening?"

"Jonathan decided that three in the morning is the perfect time for breakfast" Castle said smiling up at Kate as he tested the formula, and found it to be warm enough. He checked the seal on the bottle and took it over to Jonathan.

"You want to try this?" he said offering Kate the bottle.

She nodded and then pointed at the couch "Over there, just in case" she took Jonathan over to the couch, and sat down, and then looked pointedly at Castle.

Castle smiled gently, and took the bottle over to Kate, before remembering something and running back to the kitchen, and grabbing a dishcloth.

Jonathan had quietened down almost immediately upon realising that food was being offered to him, and was drinking from the bottle quite happily. Castle let out a quick yawn and started talking softly.

"I'm pretty sure you don't have to worry about getting up for our kids. I was already down here and getting ready to feed John there before I was fully awake."

Kate laughed gently, realising that Castle had done something silly/idiotic/cute – she wasn't really sure and at this point nor did she really care, concentrating as she was on the tiny human life in her arms.

Castle watched as Kate fed the baby for a few moments, but was all of a sudden struck by inspiration, planting a quick kiss on her forehead, Castle sneaked (not very successfully) away from the couch, and returned a moment later with a camera.

"Castle, if you do that I'll shoot you" Kate said automatically. She did every time he went for a camera, usually because something had happened which made her look silly.

"No you won't. You love me remember?" Castle said grinning and took a few photos of her. "And besides, Jonathan here is going away tomorrow afternoon. You look good with a kid Kate" he said softly, before sitting down next to her.

"Once we're married Rick." she said looking down at Jonathan, as he stopped trying to drink from the bottle.

"Ah" Castle said, putting the dish-cloth from earlier over his shoulder "Let me do this, okay? You can learn later" Castle took Jonathan from Kate, and put him up on his shoulder, and patted his back, burping him gently. Procedure completed, castle put Jonathan back in Kate's arms. "You take him upstairs to bed, I'll clean up down here" he said smiling.

Kate nodded, and stood up, carrying Jonathan carefully as he started to drift off back to sleep.

"Castle?" she asked softly "I really do want us to have kids. Plural" Kate smiled at her and headed off to their bedroom. Castle smiled to himself, and fussed about in the kitchen for a few moments, before joining his fiancé in their bed. Kate already asleep, he climbed into bed carefully, and wrapped an arm around her. "I love you." he whispered softly, before letting himself drift off to sleep**.**

**Later that afternoon**

_Ding-Dong._

Castle groaned to himself. Jonathan just had to have needed burping, just as the social services guy arrived, didn't he? And Castle just had to be in no position to get a dish-cloth to protect his shirt, didn't he? Oh well

Castle settled Jonathan into his basket, walked over, and opened the door to a professional looking man in a suit, in his mid 40's holding a briefcase.

"Mr. Castle?" The man asked, offering out his hand "I'm Jeremy Michaels, Social Sevices, I believe that a Jonathan Doe Clarkson was placed in your care?"

"That's not quite right" Castle replied, shaking Mr Michaels hand. "Detective Beckett tracked down a birth certificate, - Jonathan James Clarkson. Please, come in Mr Michaels, I just fed Jonathan"

Castle stepped aside, and gestured to let the man in. "Would you like something to drink Mr Michaels?" Castle asked, being the gracious host.

"A coffee would be excellent. This job is 9-5, 24/7." Mr Michaels came in, and Castle gestured to the couch, where Jonathan was sitting in his basket, on the coffee table, the TV turned to some mindless show, and Castle's laptop next to the baby. "Please, sit down, I'll be with you in a moment"

Michaels nodded, went over to the couch, and Castle noticed that he was very deliberately not looking at the draft chapter for the next Nikki Heat book that he had left up on the laptop's screen when he fed Jonathan.

Castle joined the Michaels shortly, placing the coffee on the table in front of him, before saving the document and shutting down the laptop "Thank you for not peering." Castle said smiling at him

Michaels nodded and said "I'm a bit of a fan – and I hate spoilers." Castle laughed as Michaels took a sip of the coffee "This is good, thank-you."

"Not a problem" Castle said. "So, are there any forms I'm supposed to sign, or anything like that?"

"Ah, well, this is a bit of a sensitive situation Mr Castle. Jonathan here is very young as I'm sure you're aware, and this poses a bit of a problem. It requires a special sort of foster parent, to be willing to take in such a young child. We don't have many people looking for a baby this young.

Let me be honest with you here Mr. Castle. It takes a special kind of foster parent to look after such a young baby, and frankly, we don't have enough of such people. We'll have to spend time trying to find a foster family willing to take him in. In the meantime, well, he still needs a place to stay, and I was wondering if you and Miss Beckett might be willing to continue in such a capacity? It won't be permanent, but we don't want him to be left out in the cold. You seem to be coping well enough, and I know that you are already a father. It would just be at most, three weeks, I should think."

Castle nodded, mulling over the information carefully, before coming to a decision.

"Of course, this will need to be ratified by my fiancé, but I think that would be okay You can certainly leave him here tonight. However, I would like to ask: How does the application to become a foster parent work, and how long does it take?"

Mr. Michaels gave a huge grin "I have to admit, I was hoping for that answer." he reached into his briefcase and pulled out a stack of forms.

"You and Miss Beckett will need to fill these out. The application takes about two weeks to process, and then we'll contact you if we need you to foster someone, like, for instance, Jonathan James Clarkson. I hope that she doesn't, but if Miss Beckett does not wish to retain custody of Jonathan with you in this brief period, or if you send in these here forms, and later change your mind, then please don't hesitate to call me" Michaels handed over his business card to castle. It informed castle, that Jeremy Michaels was the deputy head of social services operations for this area.

Castle laughed, nodded, took the forms and the now empty coffee mug from Mr Michaels and put them on the kitchen counter.

Mr Michaels stood up, and started talking. "It was a pleasure meeting you Mr. Castle, and I'm glad that we could come to this arrangement. However, there is one last thing before I go." he reached into his briefcase and pulled out a copy of Storm Fall. "Could you sign this please?"

Castle laughed, and fished in his pocket for a pen, before reaching for the book.


	5. Something Old

**Disclaimer: If I owned Castle, me and my girlfriend would be living in a huge apartment all to ourselves, with lots of cool stuff everywhere. As it is, we don't. So apparently I don't own Castle. Who knew?**

**Anyways, Author's note time. I'm sorry it's been a while since I updated this. I've recently gotten a full time job, and it's more than a little exahusting. Yes, i've posted a drabble or two, but those don't take much time, effort, or thinking to write.**

**Now, this isn't exactly how I wanted this chapter to end, I did have more sort of planned, but I want to get Wedding Rhymes updated, so I give you what I have. It does work where it ends, I just didn't want to end it there.**

**Once again, apologies for grammar, misspellings, and various other atrocities in the form of the words on this page :)**

"So, what do we know?" Detective Kate Beckett said, looking at the murder-board that morning, coffee well in hand. (Despite the fact that Castle had stopped coming round the precinct as much, the coffee turned up every single day. She still hasn't figured out how, not that she really cared to try)

"Julia Clarkson" Detective Esposito started. "Recently widowed, Mother of one, no known next of kin. Killed by having her hand cut off."

"Murder was between 4 and 6 yesterday morning. As far as we know, most people liked Julia, but she was heard to have had an argument with somebody last Thursday evening, who may or may not be this man, Trevor Kent" Detective Ryan said, reaching up and pinning a photograph of a young man to the board. He had green eyes, and short, spiky blue hair.

"Picture just came in from the DMV records – he applied for a replacement drivers license and just had his photo taken for it a few days ago. It appears that they were married when they were 18, for about 16 weeks, then Julia filed for divorce. We have an address" Esposito continued on from where Ryan left off.

"Let's go then" Becket said, downing the rest of her coffee, and heading for the elevator

"Hi there, is that Perfect Day wedding shop? This is Richard Castle, and I have a bit of an emergency. My fiancé's wedding dress was ruined and the day is in a week and 5 days, She needs a new dress. Yes, I can get her there tomorrow afternoon. No. Money is no object. Okay. See you tomorrow afternoon" Castle grinned and put the phone down. "Excellent" he muttered to himself "That's that dealt with, now, to get Kate there"

He looked around the loft, to a sleeping Jonathan (he'd forgotten just how much babies that young slept). Castle grinned and picked up the phone, and dialled the number for Alexis, who was staying with her long time boyfriend, Ashley.

"Hey Alexis, how are you? That's great darling. Hey, could you come over for a while? I could use a hand with something? You can? How soon can you get here? Of course he can come too! Haven't I told you before that Ashley is always welcome here? I haven't? Oh, well, Ashley is always welcome here!"

Kate knocked on the door to Trevor Kent's apartment.

"Who is it?" came a voice from inside

"NYPD, we'd like to ask you a few questions."

There was then a very audible "Oh Shit!" from inside the apartment, and a clattering. Kate drew her gun in under a second, as Javier lined up, and kicked the door open, in time to see a young man, matching the driver's license photo, disappearing out the window.

"Shit!" Kate swore, running for the window. "Esposito, Ryan, he's headed down the fire escape. Circle around and cut him off!"

Trusting the pair to their orders, Kate followed Trevor out the window, and chased him down the fire escape, yelling "STOP! POLICE!"

He didn't appear to be armed, only running, so for now she refrained from firing a shot. When he ran off the bottom of the fire escape and down the alley, Kate was only moments behind him. They turned a corner, and there was a tall fence in the way. If there had been any time to think, Kate would have been exultant, she had him now. But there wasn't. She had to take him down quickly. As much as we like to pretend we're not, humans are animals, and when an animal is cornered is when it is at it's most dangerous. And she had Trevor Kent cornered.

But he didn't stop running.

He vaulted onto a dumpster, swung from the bottom rung of another fire escape ladder, and disappeared over the top of the fence.

Kate stopped and looked on in surprise, just as Ryan and Esposito appeared behind her.

"Where'd he go?" Ryan asked, gun drawn.

"Over the fence? He did a trick jump off the dumpster and that fire escape and made it over the fence" Kate replied, seeing no way over herself, there was no way she could pull the same stunt the perp did. "We've lost him. Get the word out, and get a CSU crew down here. In the meantime, let's go search his apartment.

Kate growled and kicked a trash can on her way back up, grumbling about having lost the suspect. Ryan and Esposito followed behind her, knowing well enough not to interrupt Kate as she ranted about 'stupid suspects' and 'defying the laws of physics'. Quickly enough, they got back to the suspects apartment. It didn't take long to find a bag of bloody clothes under the bed. And Esposito found a severed hand in the freezer. The fourth finger was severed, and next to the hand, and the markings of a wedding band were still on the finger, but the ring in question was missing.

"Damn. It's looking pretty bad for your runner." Ryan commented, gesturing to the hand. "Better

call in Lanie to deal with this."

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